I wrote this story for Cheron's granddaughter Lilith.  Feel free to copy it, draw crayola illustrations for it and pass it around at grade schools or homeschools.  All I ask is that you put my name on it as author.

Violet and the Little Giant

By TC Trumpinski 

            There once was a little girl with golden hair and beautiful purple eyes.  It was the custom of her kingdom to name their girl children after flowers, so her parents named her Violet.

            Violet lived in a warm brown cottage at the edge of a rich village.  Her father grew wheat and her mother baked the wheat into bread the villagers bought from her in the morning.  Violet had a lot of time to explore and to play all day, because school had not yet been invented.

            Behind the house, in a barn with lots of levels to sleep on and soft moss on the floor, Violet kept her riding cat, Chauncey.  All of the people in the kingdom rode riding cats because the cats had eaten all of the horses and ponies a long time before.  The riding cats were the size of tigers, but didn’t scratch or bite because the people fed steaks to them morning and night.

            Violet had her own little saddle which fit right on the back of Chauncey.  They were good friends and rode together through fields and forests.  When Chauncey would come to a creek, he would jump from one bank right to the other so he and Violet did not get wet at all.

            One day, Violet was going for a ride with Chauncey.  She put on her riding pants and a bright yellow blouse with red buttons.  Her mother tied a bonnet onto her head and kissed her on the cheek.  “Stay close to the village, Violet,” she said.  “There are creatures in the forest—wolves and spiders and giants who will chase little girls and eat them up.  Come home by supper time.”

            “I will, mommy,” Violet said.  “We won’t get into any trouble at all.”

            Violet put Chauncey’s saddle onto his back and tightened it so it would not fall off while they were riding.  Chauncey let out a loud meow and a roar when Violet climbed into the saddle.      They rode south into the forest which grew near the village.  At first, Violet was very careful, because her mother had warned her to watch out for dangers.  A little later, though, she and Chauncey spotted a rabbit and began to chase it.  It jumped over logs.  It ran along the side of a cliff, Violet holding on for dear life.  Finally, the rabbit jumped over the widest creek Violet had ever seen, and the riding cat could not follow.

            They had gone further from home than ever before.  The sun was overhead, since it was noon, so they could not tell east from west or north from south.  They were lost and Violet began to get worried.  Where were the wolves, spiders, and giants?  Were they hiding somewhere, behind trees or in the bushes, to jump out and eat her and Chauncey?

            She got down from Chauncey’s back and looked around.  The insects in the bushes made squeaking sounds, and when they did, Violet would jump.  She could not find any path or way out of the woods, so they decided to follow the creek.  The two of them headed back they way they thought they had come. 

            The woods were getting darker and scarier the deeper they went into them.  As they came to the bend in a creek, they heard a very loud splash from the other side, behind some trees.  Violet crept forward, pushing bushes aside to see what had made the splash.

            It was a giant!  He stood twice as tall as her father and wore rough green trousers which came to below his knees.  He was barefoot and the tops of his feet were covered with rough black hair.  Above his trousers was a checkered shirt, red and black, and he had a brown belt that had a golden buckle on its front around his waist.  His head was huge and had a mop of black hair on his head which looked like it had never been combed.  A robin was nesting just above his right ear, hiding in the tangles.

            Violet tried to be very quiet, for she did not want the giant to eat her.  The giant did not notice her or Chauncey as he picked up more stones to throw into the creek.  The creek had widened right here and had formed a wide, wide pond.  He picked up a flat stone the size of Violet’s head and skipped it across the pond—once, twice, three times before it finally splashed and sunk to the bottom of the pond.

            The giant did this for quite a while, then stooped and picked up a huge boulder.  He raised it over his head and threw it into the pond with all of his might.  A big wave of water splashed up over Violet and Chauncey.  Violet let out a high-pitched “eek” and Chauncey roared, for the riding cat did not like getting wet.  They were both frightened because they could tell the giant had heard them.

            The giant put down the next stone he was going to pick up and looked toward the place where Violet and Chauncey were hiding.  He began walking closer, a little bit at a time.  Finally, he pushed the bushes aside and saw the two of them hiding there.  He let go of the bush and backed away across the clearing.

            “Please don’t eat me,” the giant said in a frightened voice.

            Violet and Chauncey came out from behind the bushes.  “We don’t eat people,” Violet said.  Chauncey nodded his large head in agreement.

            “You don’t?”  The giant seemed surprised.  “Well then, what do you eat?”

            “We eat vegetables and beefsteak and hot baked bread,” Violet told him.

            “So do we,” said the giant.  “We don’t eat people either.”

            Violet wondered about this.  Her mother had said giants were dangerous, but this one seemed friendly.  Maybe she had never met one, so she didn’t know any better.  Violet decided to watch the giant closely and run if he showed any signs of being hungry.

            “Would you like to skip stones?” the giant asked.    

            “Sure,” said Violet, and reached down to pick up a small, smooth one.

            The two of them played together for quite a while.  When they got tired of throwing stones in the pond, the giant took out his huge fishing pole and put a snake on the hook, which was as big as Chauncey’s paw.  It was not long before a fish took the bait, and the giant put the largest fish that Violet had ever seen into a basket.

            It was getting late when Violet and Chauncey heard a deep voice growling from far away in the forest.  The ground shook with footfalls and trees were pushed aside as the source of the noise came closer.  They were scared, but the giant shook his head at them and told them not to worry.  “It’s my dad,” he said.

            Violet and Chauncey bent their heads way back to look up at the giant who came into the clearing.  He was as tall as the tops of the pine trees around him.  He looked down at the little giant and the other two of them by the pond and said, “Who are these creatures, son?”

            “They’re people, Father,” the little giant said.  “They live in a village where the forest road reaches the plains.  They’re really nice and they don’t eat us after all.  She and the cat are lost.”

            “I told you not to talk to strangers, son, but they seem harmless enough.  Lost, you say?  I can take you as far as the forest road and sent you off on the right way to go.  You need to come home now, son, supper will be done soon.”

            True to his word, the little giant’s father led Violet and Chauncey to the forest road and pointed to the north where her village lay.  Violet thanked the giants and said goodbye and she and Chauncey started for home.

            They arrived home just as the sun was going down.  Violet’s mother was in the barn looking for her when they got back.  Violet took off Chauncey’s saddle and brushed him down while her mother fretted over her.  Violet promised never to be late for supper again, for as long as she lived.  Her mother forgave her and gave her extra jam on her bread, since Violet looked extra hungry.

            The next morning, Violet woke up to lots of noise outside her house.  She opened her window and looked down.  As far as she could see, there was a line of villagers heading toward her house.  They seemed very excited and more than a little bit puzzled.  She threw on her slippers, headed for her front door and opened it, her mother walking behind her.

            There, on her doorstep, was the little giant in his play outfit.  Behind him, the villagers stood, their mouths open, for none of them had ever seen a real giant before.

            “Can Violet come out and play?” the little giant asked.

            “Yes, she can,” Violet’s mother answered.  “But you have to come in for lunch afterwards.  I’ll make really big cookies.”

            And Violet and the little giant were best friends forevermore.